Written by Kianna Best on Apr 17, 2023. Posted in Incentive News

Amazon awarded USD 35.3 million in Californian tax incentives for TV production

Amazon has received a generous tax incentive totalling to USD 35. 3 million for television production in California. The streaming platform’s upcoming big-budget spy thriller debut Citadel will receive USD 25 million for relocating from the UK to California for its second season and an untitled project for the company will receive USD 10.3 million. This incentive pay out marks the largest sum ever offered by the state of California for a single film or television season.

Citadel, a project from Marvel auteurs Anthony and Joe Russo, is led by Priyank Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden. The series follows the disbanding of elite agency Citadel whose displaced members must come together and stop the rising power of new powerful organisation Manticore. With an expected pay of USD 119 million in qualified expenditures, the show will be the biggest ever poached from outside of California in the tax credits history. Citadel is set for release on 28 April.

Image courtesy of Prime Courtesy 

Other projects set to set up or transfer over to California and take advantage of the incentive are Netflix’s Forever which acquired USD 12.1 million for its Judy Blume novel adaptation, Twentieth Century Fox’s Paradise City, awarded USD 12.2 million, Paramount’s USD 14.4 million awarded untitled series, HBO’s Wondermill which will receive USD 4.3 million for its move from Oregon, and BET series True to the Game which will receive USD 2.2 million.

The state currently offers a 25% incentive for TV Shows that move to the state, and if they continue beyond a second season, this automatically allows qualification for a 20% tax credit. These investments into the state’s incoming production presence are part of the Californian Film Commission’s total allocation of USD 80.4 million to incentivise TV production in the state.